DreamHack Masters Marseille: the EVPs

With DreamHack Masters Marseille behind us, we took a look at the numbers to determine which players deserved EVP mentions at the French event.

Astralis came out victorious of the French event after beating Natus Vincere in a two-map series, capping off a fantastic campaign that saw them lose just one map throughout the entire tournament. You can read our takeaways of the event in the "winners and losers" article written by our reporter Zvonimir "Professeur" Burazin shortly after the event.

After the grand final, Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostylievwas named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the event for his incredible consistency in Na`Vi's final run - highlighted by his 1.52 tournament rating, 99.4 ADR and 1.00 kills per round. He also led the tournament charts in rounds with at least one kill (62.8%) and multi-kill rounds (25.6%).

Seven players earned EVP mentions for DH Marseille

Now, it is time to look at the Exceptionally Valuable Players (EVPs), players who stood out from the pack, either by performing consistently on a high level or by putting in great displays in big matches that led to team success. Astralis provide four players, while Natus Vincere, fnatic and Gambit supply one apiece.

Below is the list of our EVPs for DreamHack Masters Marseille with each player's nickname linking to the part of the article describing his performance:

Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander was without a doubt the biggest surprise of the Marseille event as he played at a level that exceeded all expectations – perhaps even his own. His 1.34 rating is by far his best at a big event, where he has averaged a 0.97 rating, with this being only the second time that he has ended a competition of this stature with a rating higher than 1.20.

The 22-year-old put in 1+ ratings in all games he played except the 14-16 defeat to Liquid in the group stage, which he ended with Astralis second-highest rating (1.42). In the playoffs, his rating dropped to 1.29 – the team’s third-highest, behind Nicolai "device" Reedtz’s 1.42 and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth’s 1.30.

But his event rating is one of a myriad of reasons that help to explain why gla1ve made such a compelling case to win the MVP award. He was Astralis' best player on the Terrorist side, averaging a 1.25 rating, and he had the team’s highest average damage (90.2) and the second-highest impact rating (1.37). He also held his own in 1vsX situations, winning five clutches, just one fewer than Xyp9x, and had the second highest percentage of multi-kill rounds (25.5%).

For a team desperate to get back on track after unexpectedly losing one of their key figures, gla1ve’s rise in form could just be the ingredient they were missing. But will he be able to continue playing at this level?

device lands the second place on our EVP list after a dominant showing in the playoffs, where his 1.42 rating was second only to s1mple’s 1.57. His 1.38 event rating is bettered only by his 1.41 rating from the ECS Season 2 Finals, where he earned an MVP medal – his last to date.

Despite having been the best performer on Astralis, he was somewhat inconsistent, posting only seven 1+ ratings throughout the tournament – two fewer than his teammates that also make this list. But his ceiling was incredibly high in Marseille: in those seven games, only once did he have a rating lower than 1.40, and he twice broke the 2.00 mark, something that not even s1mple could do.

The 22-year-old had the event’s second-highest KAST (80.1%) and Impact (1.39), while he was ranked seventh amongst AWPers (0.33 kills per round with the ‘Big Green’) and fifth in terms of opening kills (0.14 per round).

Xyp9x earned an EVP mention after catching the eye with a 1.30 rating – the second highest of his career after the ECS Season 2 Finals (1.44). He was just one of two Astralis players who performed better in the playoffs than in the group stage, with his rating going slightly up to 1.30 in the knockout stages from 1.28 in the first phase of the competition.

The 22-year-old was the event’s best clutcher, with six 1vsX situations won, and excelled in terms of support rounds (26.8%), deaths per round (0.45) and flash assists (20), three categories in which he was unmatched.

But it would be wrong to reduce his role to that of a support player. He had the most PotM picks by HLTV.org in Astralis, three, and ended five maps with ratings higher than 1.30, leading his team in the quarter-final match against FaZe. Certainly an event to remember for the Dane, who has been key to the team’s revival.

The Russian had a strong showing in Marseille, both in the groups (1.42 rating) and in the playoffs (1.31), and finished the tournament with a 1.36 rating – by far his best ever at a big event. He was the only player on Na`Vi’s camp apart from s1mple to have an above-average impact rating (1.34), and his ADR was 15.5% higher than the team’s average. He posted 1+ ratings in all games except the 16-4 thrashing at the hands of Astralis on Nuke, even outshining s1mple in Na`Vi’s opening match, against Renegades.

Taken on its own, electronic’s performances at the DreamHack event were nothing short of amazing, but he just fell shy of the extraterrestrial s1mple. The 19-year-old is finally starting to live up to expectations, which is great news for all Na`Vi fans as Egor "flamie" Vasilyev tends to blow hot and cold, and the team cannot solely rely on s1mple.

After taking an MVP medal at the WESG Finals, Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson had to settle for an EVP mention, which was still an impressive feat given fnatic’s struggles in Marseille, where they won just six of the 11 maps that they played.

KRIMZ was the only player who did not take part in the final and still featured in the top five in terms of event kills (227), and was the only one who could match s1mple’s five PotM picks. With six 1.30 map ratings – just as many as device and Emil "Magisk" Reif, KRIMZ showed in Marseille once again why he is in a class of his own, performing at a consistently high level even when his teammates cannot keep up.

Magisk endured an indifferent spell with OpTic, but he seems to be gradually returning to form, completing his third event in a row for Astralis with 1+ ratings. At StarSeries and IEM Katowice, the 20-year-old had already shown glimpses of his old dignitas form, but in Marseille he went above and beyond that as he averaged a 1.29 rating, his best since the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals and his third-highest overall.

He was Astralis’ best player in the group stage, in which he was the joint-best performer with Nikola "NiKo" Kovač with a 1.47 rating, but his level dropped a bit once the tournament hit the playoffs (1.19). Still, it is worth mentioning that he ended six of the ten maps that he played with ratings higher than 1.30 – something that only device matched in the team.

One aspect in which Magisk particularly stood out was opening frags. He was ranked second in opening kills per round (0.16) and third in opening duel success (63.3%). He also fragged in 53.7% of the rounds that he played, which was the highest percentage among Astralis’ players.

Gambit showed in Marseille that there is still some life in them, and much of that was down to Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev, who posted only his second above-average rating at a big event since the team’s title-winning campaign at PGL Major.

The 28-year-old was in the green in seven of the nine maps that Gambit played in France, topping the scoreboard in the crucial Liquid (1.36 rating, 99 ADR) and Cloud9 (1.29 rating, 84 ADR) series. He led the team both in terms of damage (84.6 ADR) and impact (1.20), and featured in the event leaderboards in total assists (40) and headshots (96). It is hard to judge where Gambit stand right now, but with AdreN once again putting in big numbers, the Kazakhstani team’s chances look much greater.

If NiP won the against fnatic, I don't think they could've beaten Astralis just based on the way Astralis was playing. They were playing way too well. But hopefully soon, they can. fnatic won with great playing from krimz too.

"Now, it is time to look at the Exceptionally Valuable Players (EVPs), players who stood out from the pack, either by performing consistently on a high level or by putting in great displays in big matches that led to team success."

I'm glad to see that hltv has finally gotten over their ridiculous old hang-up where the MVP *must* come from the team that won the event, even if the best individual performance by any metric was not on that team.